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bigphoot1 said:
Anstruther in Fife sees mass stranding of pilot whales

A total of 16 whales have died after being stranded on the east coast of Scotland.

Ten others were refloated after being kept alive by vets from British Divers and Marine Life Rescue.

The incident between Anstruther and Pittenweem in Fife involved pilot whales, each of them approximately 20ft (6m) long.

The whales that survived will be monitored for the next 24 hours to see if they re-beach.

Forth coastguard were alerted to the incident at about 07:00 BST on Sunday.

Three of the whales that died were calves.

The incident drew a large number of bystanders to the scene, prompting the coastguard to urge the public to stay away to allow rescue teams to carry out their duties.

Coastguard teams from St Andrews and Leven, Anstruther lifeboat, and Fife Police assisted with the incident.

A further 24 pilot whales, thought to be from the same pod, were spotted in shallow water about three miles away at Cellardyke.

They have been monitored for signs that they are in danger of stranding
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-19455719

Just heard on the lunchtime news that the 10 whales are still in shallow water and fears for their safety continue.
 
Why do we fuss about these things? Pilot whale beachings are part of life.
 
Kondoru said:
Why do we fuss about these things? Pilot whale beachings are part of life.

Harsh words, Kondoru.
 
Kondoru said:
Why do we fuss about these things? Pilot whale beachings are part of life.

Because whales might not be part of life much longer if we don't try to save them, if you'll forgive the muesli-knitting cliche.
 
Harsh, but then nature is harsh.

Pilot whales are very prone to this...its how many cultures have caught them.

If it was pretty much any other type of whale then that would be remarkable, suspicious and yes, tragic.

There have been several mentions of Fin Whales, a fast, big whale (are they deepwater types? I dont know. Certainly there are roquals who frequent british waters...its interesting that we have quite a population of big whales, even including places like the Irish sea which we regard as being pretty insular...But there are baleen whales there...and its famed for its basking sharks)

I dont think a few pilot whales on the beach is doing to do anything other than make the place untidy.
 
Whale found on Northumberland beach was unusual species

A whale that was put down in Northumberland was a rare Sei whale, experts have now said.
The female 26ft (8m) whale, originally thought to be a minke whale, was put down after it was stranded on a North Sea beach in Northumberland.

Experts from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) charity went to her aid when she was found in Druridge Bay at about 07:00 BST on Wednesday.
The charity said it was an unusual species to find stranded in the UK.
The whale was assessed as being too thin to be returned to the sea.
After treatment, the "massively underweight" female whale was put down because of her condition.

BDMLR operations director Stephen Marsh said: "Sei whales are an unusual species to find stranded in the UK.
"The whale which stranded is the sixth in the UK since the inception of the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) in 1990 and only the 16th since the Natural History Museum began collecting data on UK strandings in 1913."

The CSIP said the post-mortem test revealed the 8.6m juvenile female Sei whale was in moderate to poor nutritional condition, with comparatively thin blubber deposits and bile staining of the intestinal tract indicated a period of starvation.
The mammals can live up to 65 years and swim up to 55km per hour.

Rob Deaville from the CSIP, which is funded by Defra, carried out the post-mortem examination on the Sei whale along with a colleague.
He said another Sei was found in Scotland six weeks ago.
"We've had two together in a short space of time," he said.
"It is pretty unusual. We don't know for sure what's caused them to come into shallow waters."

Mr Deaville said between 400 and 600 whales become stranded around the UK each year. Post-mortems are carried out on around a quarter of those to find out more about the threats they face.

Further test results will be examined to establish whether or not the whale found at Druridge Bay had any underlying infections.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-19759912
 
A small member of the marine mammals, admittedly, but for me this is very close to home:

Dolphin stranded on Gyllingvase beach put down

A dolphin found stranded on a Cornish beach has been put down, say marine rescuers.
The Common dolphin was discovered on the high water line at Gyllingvase near Falmouth early on Wednesday.
Members of British Divers Marine Life Rescue covered the animal with wet towels and seaweed to keep it comfortable.
A vet who was called to the scene assessed that it was too sick to be returned to the sea.

There have been 41 strandings of Common dolphins in Cornwall in the past year according to figures from the Marine Strandings Network.
Almost 3,500 whales, dolphins and porpoises have been stranded on UK coastlines over the six years up to December 2011, according to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Overall it recorded a fall in the number of strandings but said that some still were not being reported.
The Society has launched a campaign to encourage the public to tell them when they find beached mammals.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-19811758

NB: This beach lies just below where the Falmouth Beach Hotel burned down a few months ago.
 
Here's a new thing! (Previously only hunted whales were rendered into oil):

Dead stranded whale to be turned into biofuel
A young whale washed up on a remote beach is to be rendered down to produce around 2,000 litres of biofuel for cars and lorries.
12:10PM BST 05 Oct 2012

A young whale washed up on a remote beach is to be rendered down to produce around 2,000 litres of biofuel for cars and lorries.
The 10m fin whale, weighing six tons and 780kgs, died after being stranded on Sunday afternoon on the beach at Shingle Street near Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Suffolk Coastal District Council which was responsible for removing the carcass decided to do something 'useful' with the body instead of dumping it on a landfill site or towing it out to sea to rot.
The council arranged for the carcass to be taken off the beach on Thursday in a sealed container and taken away by local rendering frim Clarkes of Melton.

Clarkes of Melton owner Philip Clarke sent the whale to another specialist firm to have its tallow oil removed from its blubber.
He said: "It could well produce two tons of oil which will be enough for 2,000 litres of biofuel. It will be fuel for vehicles to drive thousands of miles.
"The bulk of the rest of the whale will be incinerated at a power station which uses animal remains as fuel to produce electricity. Nothing will go to waste."

Council spokesman Viv Hotten said: "It is sad that the whale died, but we are pleased that the carcass is going to be put to good use.
"It is much better that we do this rather than take up space on a landfill site or dump it at sea."

The Zoological Society of London was unable to determine how the whale died as it could not carry out a full post mortem on the beach which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildli ... ofuel.html

That's a beach I've sailed past many times, but I've never set foot there.
 
This is what is known as recycling on a grand scale.

A lot of waste can be used as fuel; I know nothing burnable goes out of the house in the winter; it goes on my stove.

the cardboard bin the council so kindly gave me is now a log container...
 
Another Falmouth stranding:

Pilot whale put down after Castle Beach stranding

A pilot whale has been put down after becoming stranded on a beach in Cornwall.
Wildlife experts said the animal, which was in a poor state when it was found, was too ill to survive.

The 4.1m (13ft) whale was discovered at Castle Beach, near Falmouth, just before midday.
Dave Jarvis, of British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), said the animal was in such poor condition that if it was refloated it would sink and drown.
Earlier the charity told BBC News that the welfare of the whale was its "first priority" and that refloating it was "not always the best thing".

The juvenile long-finned pilot whale was found with superficial abrasions and some marks on its body.
BDMLR also said its muscle mass was "quite poor".
Alex Knight, BDMLR chairman, said it was unusual to have a single stranding as pilot whales generally live and travel in pods.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Marine Strandings Network is now organising for a post-mortem examination to be carried out.

In 2011 there was a mass stranding of about 70 pilot whales at Durness, off Cape Wrath in Scotland, and last year, nearly 30 stranded at Anstruther in Fife, but in both cases many of them were successfully refloated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-22154155

EDIT to add

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/fp ... and_VIDEO/
 
I like my (half-serious) theory:

They're following some sort of instinct to evolve into land dwellers.

Wouldn't it be interesting if there were ancient fish who beach themselves for thousands of years until a few survived and evolved into land-dwelling critters?
 
MercuryCrest said:
I like my (half-serious) theory:

They're following some sort of instinct to evolve into land dwellers.

Wouldn't it be interesting if there were ancient fish who beach themselves for thousands of years until a few survived and evolved into land-dwelling critters?

There is a theory that whales evolved from land animals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_cetaceans

...so it is entirely possible that they may be trying to de-evolve...
 
Mythopoeika said:
There is a theory that whales evolved from land animals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_cetaceans

...so it is entirely possible that they may be trying to de-evolve...
Evolution has no intention or volition. It just happens (or not) as a by-product of everything else that's going on, eg climate change, natural disasters, feast (or famine), disease outbreaks, etc, etc.

Rudyard Kipling had some good Just So stories about how animals got to be how they are... ;)
 
Second whale stranded in Firth of Forth is put down

A minke whale has been put down by vets after it became stranded in the Firth of Forth just days after the death of a pilot whale in the area.
The 4m long juvenile whale became stuck near the shore at Crombie point in Fife at 07:40.
The animal was in distress "lifting its tail and tremoring". Firefighters had been pouring water over the whale to keep its skin from cracking.
Experts said it was a "long way from the sea".

Medics from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue kept the mammal sedated but with high tide not due until mid afternoon a decision was taken to euthanise the whale because refloating was not possible.

On Tuesday, a pilot whale was stranded north of Edinburgh but later died.
A team from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue had spent the day in the shallows off Silverknowes trying to save the animal.

It is the season for whale strandings in Scotland.
Experts said that in September they expected to see a number of animals stuck on beaches but they are unsure why.

Stephen Marsh from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue said there could be a number of reasons.
Firstly, the whale may be sick or dying which can disorient the animal and turn them inland.
The second is the weather. It could be that in September, food moves closer to the shore and the whales are having to swim into shallower waters to feed.

This year, however, experts said they do not know what to expect.
The jet stream has been a lot further north, giving warmer weather, however, it also affects the currents and other marine life.
For instance, seals have been having pups later this year.

About 30% of stranded whales are kept alive and sent back to sea.
At the weekend in Shetland, 40 pilot whales were safely herded out to deeper waters by workers from Scottish National Heritage under the remote guidance of British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-23984271

A Minke whale was seen in Falmouth bay recently
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10 ... _PICTURES/
 
Ten pilot whales die and dozens more beached in Florida
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25224766

The pod of whales are stranded off the Florida coast

Ten whales have died and as many as 30 more are stranded after a pod beached off Florida's Everglades National Park, US government officials have said.

The pilot whales were swimming in only 3ft (0.9m) of salt water at a remote beach on Tuesday.

Initial rescue efforts have been stymied because the water around the animals is too shallow for boats.

Scientists believe the whales may have become stranded during low tide and were unable to return to deeper water.

Away from home
"This scenario is very challenging because of where they are," Blair Mase, spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told reporters.

"They are very out of their home range."

She said the pilot whales, part of the dolphin family, normally inhabit deep waters.

Ms Mase said that 25 people had joined the rescue effort.

If the non-endangered whales cannot be coaxed out of the shallow waters, they may be euthanised, she concluded.

Everglades National Park comprises much of the southern tip of the Florida peninsula.
 
Stranded Cornwall dolphin returned to the sea

Rescuers have returned a stranded dolphin to the sea in Cornwall.
The bottlenose dolphin was found at Par beach near St Austell at about 10:00 GMT.
It was examined by a vet before six volunteers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) carried it on a stretcher to the sea.

Dave Jarvis, from BDMLR, said it was rare for bottlenose dolphins to be stranded in Cornwall and it may have become detached from a pod in the area.
"We had to spend 20 minutes rocking it from side to side because some times they lose their equilibrium," he said.
"Once the muscles were working and she got upright we freed her.
"She swam up and down for 20 minutes and then we lost sight of her."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-25689243
 
Dead sperm whale washed up near Edinburgh beach

A dead sperm whale has been washed up near a beach in Edinburgh.
An animal welfare charity said they were alerted to the incident on the shore near the Rockville hotel in Joppa at about 05:15.
Scottish Animal Welfare's Ch Supt Int Drummond said: "On arrival it was clear life was extinct, so there was no need to mount a rescue operation."

Initial reports said it was a basking shark. However, experts later confirmed they believed it was a sperm whale.
British Divers Marine Life Rescue were called out to check over the mammal, and at about 08:00 the Scottish SPCA officially confirmed it was dead.

A marine biologist is expected to take samples from the whale before it is either pushed out to sea or removed from the water. Edinburgh Council will be responsible for its removal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-25695370
 
Sperm whale carcass being moved from Portobello beach

Efforts are under way to remove the carcass of a sperm whale that was washed up near an Edinburgh beach.
The 13.8m whale was found at Portobello beach near the Rockville hotel in Joppa, at about 07:30 on Saturday.

Marine experts believe it may have died after being hit by a boat in deeper waters.
The carcass has been towed to a port, where it will be lifted by a crane onto a lorry and taken to Dunbar to confirm the cause of death.

Edinburgh Council is responsible for its transportation to the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme facility, where the autopsy will be carried out.
Teams from Police Scotland, the SSPCA, Whale and Dolphin Conservation and Scottish Animal Welfare have been at the scene.

Corinne Gordon, a marine mammal medic with British Divers Marine Life Rescue, who examined the whale and took measurements, said it had suffered deep cuts around its mouth and to its dorsal fin.
"It is a male sperm whale which is not adult that has washed up," she said.
"It has possibly been hit by a boat or propellers and that has caused severe damage. It has been dead for some time.
"It is possible it has been struck out in the deep and then washed inshore."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-25703059
 
Whale that washed up after violent storms an 'incredibly rare' visitor to UK waters: PICTURES
.11:57am Thursday 30th January 2014

A whale that washed up at Kenneggy Beach, near Praa Sands, has been identified as an "incredibly rare" Blanville’s whale, only recorded twice in the whole of the UK.

The 3.8 meter long whale was reported to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network as a porpoise, when it washed up after the storms on December 30, however when the network's data officer, Niki Clear, received photos she was suspicious that it was a very rare visitor to British waters.

The whale’s identity was confirmed by cetacean experts Colin McLoud at Aberdeen University and Richard C. Sabin from The Natural History Museum as a sub-adult/maturing male Blainville's beaked whale.

These elusive whales, rarely seen in UK waters, have distinctive high arched lower jaw; the males have a more pronounced arch and a tusk-like tooth at the crest of each arch. The carcass found on Kenneggy Beach was 3.8m in length.

Adult Blainville’s reach 4.5 to 6m in length, and the larger females give birth to calves around 2m long and 60kg in weight. They are dark brown to grey in colour, with many tooth rake marks and circular scars along the body caused by cookie cutter shark and parasites, both of which they accumulate with age.

Abby Crosby, marine conservation officer for Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: "We're very pleased that people took the trouble to report this animal to us, as by recording the carcasses of these creatures marine biologists can gather information about the species to help towards their conservation.

This carcass was in a poor condition with advanced decomposition, so we would suggest that the public do not touch any dead marine animals they find, as they can carry diseases that humans can catch.’

Volunteer Syd Trudgen [who] was called on site after the public phoned in the sighting, said: "Getting to the whale on Kennegy Sands was very difficult due to the poor access and the difficult climb over the rocks, not so easy with a dodgy knee. These beaked whales are found in temperate and tropical waters worldwide, and like most beaked whales, they are mostly found off-shore in waters 200m to 1,000m along continental shelves.

"This is only the second recorded stranding of this species in the UK, since routine recording of strandings began in 1913. The only other Blainville’s beaked whale stranding recorded in the UK by the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, the national strandings scheme, was reported at Aberaeron in Wales in 1993. However, it is a species which we would expect to start stranding more frequently on UK coasts, as an occasional vagrant, as water temperatures increase in association with climate change.

Abby Crosby added: "It was a sad end for this amazing whale. However by examining these strandings it at least gives us a chance to investigate these animals properly and learn more about them. And the more we know, the better we're able to fight for their protection’.

The public are urged to report stranded marine wildlife to the Marine Strandings Network on their Hotline number, 0345 201 2626, which is monitored every day of the year. For more information on the Marine Strandings Network and its work please see www.cwtstrandings.org.

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10 ... ES/?ref=la
 
Long, long ago, and far away...

Chile's stunning fossil whale graveyard explained
By Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News

It is one of the most astonishing fossil discoveries of recent years - a graveyard of whales found beside the Pan-American Highway in Chile.
And now scientists think they can explain how so many of the animals came to be preserved in one location more than five million years ago.

It was the result of not one but four separate mass strandings, they report in a Royal Society journal.
The evidence strongly suggests the whales all ingested toxic algae.
The dead and dying mammals were then washed into an estuary and on to flat sands where they became buried over time.

It was well known that this area in Chile's Atacama Desert preserved whale fossils.
Their bones could be seen sticking out of rock faces, and the spot acquired the name Cerro Ballena ("whale hill") as a result.

But it was only when a cutting was made to widen the Pan-American Highway that US and Chilean researchers got an opportunity to fully study the fossil beds.
They were given just two weeks to complete their field work before the heavy plant returned to complete construction of the new road.

The team set about recording as much detail as possible, including making 3D digital models of the skeletal remains in situ and then removing bones for further study in the lab.
Identified in the beds were over 40 individual rorquals - the type of large cetacean that includes the modern blue, fin and minke whales.

Among them were other important marine predators and grazers.
"We found extinct creatures such as walrus whales - dolphins that evolved a walrus-like face. And then there were these bizarre aquatic sloths," recalls Nicholas Pyenson, a palaeontologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
"To me, it's amazing that in 240m of road-cut, we managed to sample all the superstars of the fossil marine-mammal world in South America in the Late Miocene. Just an incredibly dense accumulation of species," he told BBC News.

The team immediately noticed that the skeletons were nearly all complete, and that their death poses had clear commonalities. Many had come to rest facing in the same direction and upside down, for example.

This all pointed to the creatures succumbing to the same, sudden catastrophe; only, the different fossils levels indicated it was not one event but four separate episodes spread over a period of several thousand years.

The best explanation is that these animals were all poisoned by the toxins that can be generated in some algal blooms.
Such blooms are one of the prevalent causes for repeated mass strandings seen in today's marine animals.
If large quantities of contaminated prey are consumed, or the algae are simply inhaled - death can be rapid.
"All the creatures we found - whether whales, seals or billfishes - fed high up in marine food webs and that would have made them very susceptible to harmful algal blooms," said Dr Pyenson.

The researchers believe the configuration of the coastline at Cerro Ballena in the late Miocene Epoch worked to funnel carcases into a restricted area where they were lifted on to sand flats just above high tide, perhaps by storm waves.
This would have put the bodies beyond marine scavengers. And, being a desert region, there would have been very few land creatures about to steal bones either.
A lot of the fossils at Cerro Ballena are perfect but for a few nicks inflicted by foraging crabs.

The researchers are not in a position to say for sure that harmful algal blooms were responsible for the mass strandings. There were no distinct algal cell fragments in the sediments; such a presence could have amounted to a "smoking gun". What the team did find, however, were multiple grains encrusted in iron oxides that could hint at past algal activity.
"There are tiny spheres about 20 microns across - that's exactly the right size to be dinoflagellate cysts," said Dr Pyenson.
"They're found in algal-like mats all around the site. We can't say whether those were the killer algae, but they do not falsify the argument for harmful algal blooms being the cause in the way that the sedimentology falsifies tsunami being a potential cause."

Cerro Ballena is now regarded as one of the densest fossil sites in the world - certainly for whales and other extinct marine mammals. The scientists calculate there could be hundreds of specimens in the area still waiting to be unearthed and investigated.
The University of Chile in Santiago is currently working to establish a research station to carry this into effect.

To coincide with the publication of a scholarly paper in Proceedings B of the Royal Society, the Smithsonian has put much of its digital data, including 3D scans and maps, online at cerroballena.si.edu

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26343894
 
Could whales explode in Canadian towns?
By Brad Lendon, CNN
April 30, 2014 -- Updated 1924 GMT (0324 HKT)

(CNN) -- Canada could have an exploding whale problem.

The carcasses of three blue whales, the world's biggest mammals, washed up on the western shores of the island of Newfoundland this month, and now two towns with carcasses in their boundaries find themselves facing a huge predicament: How do they get rid of the decomposing leviathans before something bad happens, like an explosion? :shock:

That's the fear of some of the 600 residents of Trout River, where an 81-foot-long, 60-ton carcass is bloating on the waterfront as methane gas inside expands, according to a report from CTV.
"I'm not sure with the heat and gases that are trapped inside of this mammal if at some point in time it will explode," Emily Butler, Trout River's town clerk, said in an interview published in The Star.

Jack Lawson, a scientist with Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said a whale explosion is unlikely. He's more worried someone could fall inside the decomposing beast.
"The (whale) skin is starting to lose its integrity and if someone were to walk along, say, the chin -- that is full of all that gas -- they could fall in the whale. The insides will be liquefied. Retrieving them would be very difficult," Lawson, told the National Post. :eek!!!!:

Excluding either of those scenarios, the decaying whales poses a stinky problem as tourist season nears.
"Normally we advertise whales to get people to come, where the restaurant is right on the beach and we often have whales in the cove frolicking about, but we don't want a dead whale as an attraction," Jenny Parsons, who owns the Seaside Restaurant in Trout River, told CBC News.

A second blue whale carcass is in Rocky Harbour, where Mayor Walter Nicolle said the smell is getting worse by the day.
He said the Canadian government has said local authorities in the town of 1,000 people must bear the responsibility and cost of removal, just as they must do in Trout River, according to the CBC.

But Butler, who told the Western Star she originally considered asking local fishermen to tow the carcass out to sea, said her town doesn't have the money or expertise to do so.
"I'm not willing to take on the responsibility," she is quoted as saying. "If that whale does explode, we don't know what danger that would be to our infrastructure, the longliner (fishing boat) itself, or to people."
And she said if the whale were towed out to sea, it could be considered a hazard to navigation by federal authorities.

Lawson told Global News in most cases whales would be left to decompose where they lie.
"Normally, it would have washed ashore on a beach somewhere and would have slowly rotted away and the carnivores and predators would have worked at it until, in a few years time, there would only be bones left," he said.

Butler hopes that's not the case in Trout River.
"It's only going to be a matter of time before it warms up and the smell becomes unbearable," she told Global News.

The whales are believed to be among nine of the endangered species crushed or drowned by ice while feeding, according to a CTV report. While it is not unusual for marine mammals to be trapped by shifting ice, a denser ice pack has made the problem worse this year.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/30/world ... index.html
 
Valiant bid to save beached whale fails

The whale at Ballyheigue beach.The whale at Ballyheigue beach.

An attempt to save a whale beached in Ballyheigue in Co Kerry has failed.

Ballyheigue Inshore Rescue responded to a report that a six-metre whale was stranded in low water at the local beach with its tail splashing about. With the aid of members of public, they lifted the animal back out to deep water, using ropes.

Upwards of 20 people were involved in the operation and the whale initially seemed to be swimming back out to sea, but it then began swimming parallel to the shore and headed towards the locally-known Black Rock.

“It seemed to want to come back in again and died in the shallows,’’ Kevin Fay, of Ballyheigue Inshore Rescue, said yesterday.

The species that the whale belonged to has not yet been determined and Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) representatives were due in Ballyheigue yesterday to take samples from the carcass. ...

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/va ... 73333.html
 
Falcarragh: Five whales die on County Donegal beach

Five whales that were stranded on a beach in County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland have died.
A pod of 12 whales was discovered by Jim Mercer at about 07:00 BST.
He was out for a morning run along Falcarragh Strand when he came across a baby pilot whale which was alive.
"I was unable to move it into the water on my own so I ran further up the beach to get help and came across another 11 whales", he said.
Two of the whales were already dead.

A rescue mission was launched by the local community to save the rest of them.
Unfortunately, it is understood that four adults and a baby whale have now died.
"It was very sad to pull the baby into the water and then to see it close its eyes, the poor thing had died," Mr Mercer said.

Speaking earlier, Anne Caithness from Londonderry, who is holidaying in the area said: "Diggers are on the beach trying to lift the dead whales to a separate part.
"There are hundreds of people down on the beach trying to keep the whales wet and get them back into the water. There are people in the water with their clothes on trying to help and some in wetsuits."

Mr Mercer said that the whales were not keen to re-enter the water.
"When we got them in the water, they swam back to shore further down the beach," he said.
"Despite efforts to help them out to sea, they kept coming back."

Mick O'Connell from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said: "The whales' echo-location may not have been working too well because they were in shallow water.
"It is also possible that one of the whales was sick and accidentally led the entire pod astray."

He told the BBC that there have been several cases of live strandings in recent years.
In 2010, 33 whales died after they were beached on Rutland Island in County Donegal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28195619
 
Six sperm whales die in rare mass beaching in Australia
A pod of six sperm whales have washed up dead on the South Australia coast in an unusual mass stranding
[video]
By Leon Siciliano, video source APTN
8:50AM GMT 08 Dec 2014

A pod of six sperm whales washed up dead Monday in a rare mass stranding on the South Australia coast, with animal welfare officials struggling over the logistics of handling the huge carcasses.

The whales, which can weigh up to 50 tonnes, were found at low tide by residents on Parara beach, about 93 miles northwest of Adelaide.
"We're not sure why they beached," a Department of Environment official told AFP.
"A theory is that one was ill and moved to shallow waters and then called out to fellow pod members who followed it in."

A local fisherman suggested they could have been chasing a school of salmon.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ralia.html
 
10 January 2015 Last updated at 15:59
Large whale carcass washed up in Cornwall

_80179673_80179672.jpg

The whale is about 20m long

A beach in Cornwall has been closed by police after the carcass of a large whale was found washed up.
The whale, thought be about 20m (65ft) long, was washed up on Wanson Beach near Bude.
It was discovered by Ado Shorland, who was walking his dog.
Marine biologists are examining the carcass of the whale. They believe it could be a fin whale although due to decay that has not been confirmed.

Mr Shorland said: "I found it yesterday morning. It measures around 20m and the lower jaw has been detached and alone it is about 5m. It is a very large whale.
"From a distance I thought it to be a large tarp or mesh netting. When I realised it was a whale I was excited and saddened at the same time.
"I felt humbled to be honest, the sheer size suggests it to be an adult, and alive it would have been such a majestic mammal."

He also found a malnourished seal pup, which was taken to the Gweek Seal Sanctuary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-30760469
 
Well, When I read the phrase `large whale` my heart was in my mouth, it could be something titchy.

But a Fin whale (its obviously a roqual, we can see that by the lines) is certainly large.

Observe how the decay has made something furry.
 
12 January 2015 Last updated at 11:07
Wanson Beach dead whale inspected for disposal

Environmental health officials are going to a Cornwall beach where a dead whale washed up to advise on how to dispose of the animal.

The mammal, which is about 20m (65ft) long and is thought to be a fin whale, was found at Wanson Beach near Bude on Friday.


Beach owner Richard Gill said he was waiting for guidance from Cornwall Council on what steps to take.
He has put up signs warning people to stay away from the carcass.


Cornwall Council said: "As the cause of the whale's death is not yet known and the carcass is decomposing, members of the public are being advised not to approach the whale and to ensure that they keep their pets at a safe distance."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-30777982
 
12 January 2015 Last updated at 22:26
Wanson Beach dead whale 'cannot be moved'
The carcass of a dead whale that washed up on a Cornish beach cannot be moved, environmental health officials have said.
The mammal, about 20m (65ft) long and thought to be a fin whale, was found at Wanson Beach near Bude on Friday.
Officials said the corpse cannot be moved by sea and there is no vehicular access so for now it will stay in situ.

Experts said the whale was not a public health risk but could be potentially hazardous.
Beach owner Richard Gill said he had put up signs and has been warning people to stay away from the carcass.
Cornwall Council said: "As the cause of the whale's death is not yet known and the carcass is decomposing, members of the public are being advised not to approach the whale and to ensure that they keep their pets at a safe distance."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-30777982
 
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